Retail store ordered to pay Rs3K for overcharging customer Rs19

Ludhiana: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has imposed a penalty of Rs3,000 on a retail store for overcharging of Rs19.12 from a customer. Of the penalty amount, the forum — comprising its president GK Dhir and member Jyotsna Thatai — ordered FirstCry.com, Mahindra Retail Private Limited, Mall Road, Ludhiana, to pay Rs1,500 as compensation for mental harassment and agony, and an equal amount as litigation expenses to customer Surbhi Arora of Baltana in Mohali.
In her complaint to the forum on October 8, 2018, the complainant said she had purchased a product from the seller on February 12, 2018, by paying Rs125.36.The maximum retail price (MRP) of the product, inclusive of all taxes, was Rs165. After giving a discount of Rs58.77, the payable price was Rs106.23. The GST amount of Rs19.12 was charged on the discounted price, which is alleged to be an unfair trade practice, and that is why the complainant sought refund of the excess paid amount (Rs19.12), and also claimed compensation for mental and physical harassment of Rs20,000, besides litigation expenses of Rs10,000.
The opposite party (Mahindra Retail), in a reply submitted before the forum, claimed there was no negligence or deficiency on its part, and the complainant (Surbhi Arora) was not a bonafide consumer, as she had filed a number of consumer complaints. It added that Surbhi was under no compulsion to buy the product, as the product was sold on the terms and conditions made known to her. Surbhi had produced an affidavit and documents, including tag of the product and invoice.
After going through the evidence on record, the forum observed that as the MRP was inclusive of all taxes, so GST cannot be charged on a discounted price, but it was done in this case, and as such, the seller certainly adopted an unfair trade practice. It added that the practice of charging extra GST on the discounted price was certainly an unfair trade practice, because it had been deprecated by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi.
The forum also observed that the counsel for Mahindra Retail vehemently contended that complainant Surbhi was explained that as per software, GST would be added on the discounted price, but no evidence or material was produced on record to buttress the submission, and as such, it was devoid of force in view of the law. It held that even if she may have filed a number of complaints, despite that she had a right to seek refund of excess charged amount due to adoption of unfair trade practice, because no one can be divested of the legal right, merely because she was a habitual complainant.
Apart from ordering the seller to pay the customer compensation for mental harassment and litigation expenses, the forum ordered it to refund Surbhi Arora the excess charged amount of Rs19.12 with interest of 6% per annum with effect from February 12, 2018, until full payment.